“I just love to stunt!” Kim Petras exclaimed during her appearance at Saks Fifth Avenue on Thursday — an understatement to anyone who witnessed her parade of colorful outfits during New York Fashion Week.

It’s hard to believe that the 26-year-old pop star, who sat front row at Marc Jacobs, Christian Siriano, Jeremy Scott and more last month, was a runway-show newbie. But she insists that the experience was “surreal,” and a long time coming at that.

Articles published on Thursday claimed that Sony Music had “admitted” in a court hearing earlier this week that three tracks on “Michael,” the 2010 Michael Jackson album released posthumously by Sony’s Epic Records, contained lead vocals that were not actually by Michael Jackson — an assertion that the company denied in a statement released late Friday morning.

In the world of opera, the term “diva” is reserved for a select few. It has nothing to do with outlandish offstage behavior and everything to do with a true gift for communicating in song. It’s the Italian word for “goddess,” but when used for a performer, it’s more like someone touched by the divine for the general betterment of the rest of us.

At first, Aretha Franklin embodied that description literally, as the gospel-singing daughter of the most famous preacher of the day. But then she took it further -- to the blues, R&B, pop and even opera itself.

Lupe Fiasco is making a big life change in the upcoming months: Starting Jan. 1, 2019, he will no longer consume violent content.

“I will no longer support or engage with gratuitously senseless and or [sic] purposeless + excessively violent music, tv, cartoons, content and film,” he wrote on Instagram. “This includes all of the violent music, media and movies I grew up listening to and watching.”

The Chicago rapper’s love for martial arts and fighting video games has been well documented throughout the years; however, Lupe now suggests he will spend more time enjoying “peaceful” forms of entertainment: “There are so many other narratives in this world that involve peaceful means of cohabitation and expression with humanity and the world at large that deserves attention, absorption and contemplation,” he wrote.

The first two questions have answers. Mexico elected its next president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on July 1, and hours later the national soccer team was eliminated in the World Cup's second round on July 2.

Question three, however, remains unanswered, and may never be. But thanks to a hit TV show, anticipation for a possible reveal of what happened to Marcela Basteri, the missing mother of pop icon Luis Miguel, has become a pervasive topic of conversation on social media, radio, and news outlets throughout Mexico and much of Latin America.

Yesterday (July 9), Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander became a cover boy -- and a provocative one, at that -- when he graced PAPER magazine in a silken Versace shirt while sensually resting his head on a model’s bare thigh.

In the interview, the singer gets serious, firing shots at the passive homophobia that he still sees lingering around the music industry.

"In many ways, this is the very best time to be a gay artist ever," he says. "We wouldn't be where we are today without all the gay artists that have come before us and broken down so many barriers. But barriers aren't gone. Particularly for less privileged members of the queer community. There is this very insidious casual homophobia that exists in the fabric of everything including the music industry.”

In 1997, I missed the bus to school because I absolutely had to see the entire music video for Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” I, of course, had no way of knowing that I was witnessing an artist — a future icon, really — who was going to completely shift how the world viewed music as an art form. At the time, I was enraptured by something I’d never seen before, and I was simply unwilling to pry my eyes away.

The fish-eyed lens. The cartoonish special effects. Costuming that appeared to be plucked from a delightfully fun future. Lyrics that exuded a bold confidence. With her first solo, career-solidifying music video, Missy Elliott became a certified force in an industry where women had to claw for the barest hint of recognition. Every hit record — “Sock It 2 Me,” “Hot Boyz,” “Get Ur Freak On,” “Gossip Folks,” “WTF (Where They From),” the list goes on — made it harder to relegate her to a single box.

To simply call Missy Elliott a rapper, even a devastatingly skilled one, ignores the fact that she is also a razor-sharp lyricist, singer, producer, dancer, and visionary. For over two decades, she’s built a legacy so rock solid that the name Missy Elliott has become synonymous with originality and brilliance.

Black queer artists like Ma Rainey, James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Lorraine Hansberry, and Essex Hemphill have all made it a bit easier for me to dream. I was born in a perfect era as a feminine black gay man interested in being apart of pop culture and music to have a fighting chance of making a living off of that desire. The dreams I’m dreaming are large, but tangible. They are made possible because of the legacies black gay artists before me have left.

However, there is no black gay artist that opened up my imagination about who I can be while affirming who I am like disco icon—often referred to as The Queen of Disco—Sylvester.

Damon Albarn is apparently no fan of Kanye West. In a new interview with the French publication L’obs, the Gorillaz and Blur leader embarks on a bit of a tirade about Kanye, specifically his “abusive” creative relationship with Paul McCartney.

Although Albarn’s comments are a little jumbled after being translated from English to French and back, the tone and substance of the exchange are clear. After the interviewer brings up Kanye’s lengthy process of gathering samples for Pusha-T’s Daytona, Albarn responds, “I do not sample, I create music.” He then begins a tangent about Kanye’s relationship to McCartney: “Do not get me started on Kanye West … Kanye West trapped Paul McCartney.”

A new documentary, “Whitney,” explores the meteoric rise of the late music superstar Whitney Houston, as well as her tragic downward spiral. Ahead of the film’s release on July 6, TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones sat down with Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law, to discuss the family secrets that are laid bare on camera.

Last month, Rita Ora released "Girls," a sexually charged pop chorale based on the singer's own experiences with women. The single -- one of the most anticipated music collaborations in recent memory -- has all the makings of a perfect summer smash: shimmery synth pulses, pristine production and A-list features from Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha and Cardi B. However, some considered its lyrics problematic.

Ora meant for "Girls" to be a celebration of bisexuality, but the song drew ire for its depiction of same-sex attraction with critics -- including prominent LGBTQ artists -- arguing that it perpetuates stereotypes. Hayley Kiyoko, known to fans as "Lesbian Jesus," called Ora's effort "tone-deaf," while Kehlani, who identifies as queer, branded the song "harmful" in a since-deleted tweet.